US11307704B1

US11307704B1 - Systems and methods for resolving touch and pen conflicts between multiple touch controllers coupled to a common touchscreen display

Info

Publication number: US11307704B1
Application number: US17/150,423
Authority: US
Inventors: Gerald R. Pelissier; Hsufeng Lee; Yagiz C. Yildiz
Original assignee: Dell Products LP
Current assignee: Dell Products LP
Priority date: 2021-01-15
Filing date: 2021-01-15
Publication date: 2022-04-19
Anticipated expiration: 2041-01-15

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented to share digital touch data (e.g., user finger touch data, pen or stylus touch data, etc.) between two or more touch controllers that are coupled to separate respective touch-sensing segments of a common touchscreen display device. The shared digital touch data may correspond to (and be derived from) analog user touch signals received within a defined margin area of each touch-sensing layer segment that lies adjacent to a middle boundary region of the touchscreen display. Each touch controller may accurately determine or compute the user touch intent for a touch data map of its corresponding touch-sensing layer segment after resolving any existing boundary conflict between digital touch data that corresponds to adjacent touch sensor segments. An operating system (OS) executing on a host programmable integrated circuit may then reconstruct and provide the full touch data map for the entire touchscreen display device.

Description

FIELD

This invention relates generally to information handling systems and, more particularly, to supporting a common touchscreen display with multiple touch controllers.

BACKGROUND

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.

Information handling systems often include a touchscreen display which both displays images and receives finger and pen touch input from a user via a touch controller, and there are many different sizes of touchscreen displays that require touch controllers with different capabilities. In many cases, different touch controller integrated circuits are created for different sizes of touchscreen displays. Attempting to match different touchscreen controllers with different respective sizes of touchscreen displays increases complexity and cost across the entire supply chain, especially for large form factor touchscreen displays (17 inch diagonal or larger size screens) that have a much lower Total Addressable Market (TAM).

Many readily available industry standard touch controllers do not have a sufficient number of receive (RX) and transmit (TX) lines to support larger touchscreen displays (such as foldable touchscreens) that have a pitch that is less than or equal to 5 millimeters combined with a diagonal dimension that is greater than 17 inches as measured across the touchscreen. Therefore, larger touchscreen displays typically employ a segmented touch sensor area, and separate touch controllers are typically coupled to receive analog touch signals (transmit (TX) and receive (RX) signals) provided by the separate touch sensor segments of the larger touchscreen display. However, touch performance issues can potentially arise across the border between two separate touch sensor segments of a common touchscreen display due to conflicts between their respective touch controllers. Examples of such touch performance issues include ghost finger (i.e., where the position of finger is recorded in slightly different positions, such as two millimeters apart, by different touch controllers), touch/pen linearity, poor touch sensitivity and palm rejection error (i.e., where a small portion of a palm touch to one sensor segment is interpreted by its touch controller as a finger touch).

It is known to resolve touch and pen performance issues between two separate touch controllers of a single touchscreen by transferring the entire sensor segment heat map from each of the touch controllers to the operating system (OS) executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of an information handling system, which then resolves any conflict between the multiple touch controllers. However, such a solution is dependent on, and specific to, the particular OS employed by the host programmable integrated circuit of each given information handling system. Moreover, using the OS to resolve touch controller conflicts requires increased bandwidth and OS processing due to the transfer of the entire heat map data from each touch controller to the CPU.

It is also known to resolve touch and pen conflicts between multiple controllers of a single touchscreen using a master/slave relationship between a single “master” touch controller and one or more other “slave” touch controllers. However, implementing multiple touch controllers in a master/slave relationship increases complexity and processing delays, which only increases as the number of touch controllers increases.

FIG. 1 illustrates another known architecture 100 for implementing

dual touch controllers

104 a and 104 b for a common touchscreen 102, with an analog front end (AFE) 103 a of a first touch controller 104 a coupled by hardwire conductors to transmit drive signals 105 a (TX signals) to a TX lines of a first sensor segment 108 a of touchscreen 102 and to receive analog touch signals 106 a (RX signals) from RX lines of the first sensor segment 108 a, and an AFE 103 b of a second touch controller 104 b is coupled by hardwire conductors to transmit drive signals 105 b (TX signals) to TX lines of a separate second sensor segment 108 b of touchscreen 102 and to receive analog touch signals 106 b (RX signals) from RX lines of the second sensor segment 108 b as shown. First touch controller 104 a and second touch controller 104 b are also coupled to provide heat map data to a central processing unit (CPU) as shown. In the conventional configuration of FIG. 1, AFE 103 a of first touch controller 104 a is also coupled by additional hardwire conductors 114 a to directly transmit drive signals and receive analog touch signals from respective TX lines and RX lines of an inner boundary area 110 b of second sensor segment 108 b, and second touch controller 104 b is also coupled by additional hardwire conductors 114 b to directly transmit drive signals and receive analog touch signals from respective TX lines and RX lines of an inner boundary region 110 a of first sensor segment 108 a. The width of each

inner boundary area

110 a and 110 b is determined by the provided number of

respective hardwire conductors

114 a and 114 b coupled to TX and RX lines of first and

second sensor segments

108 a and 108 b, respectively.

In the conventional configuration of FIG. 1,

touch controllers

104 a and 104 b share the analog touch signals provided directly across

hardwire conductors

114 a and 114 b from respective

inner boundary regions

110 b and 110 a of

respective sensor segments

108 b and 108 a. Sharing the analog touch signals from

boundary regions

110 a and 110 b allows

respective microcontrollers

111 a and 111 b of

touch controllers

104 a and 104 b to attempt to calculate the same touch values as each other for

boundary regions

110 a and 110 b, so as to attempt to resolve touch conflicts and provide continuity across the border 120 between

sensor segments

108 a and 108 b of the common touchscreen 102 when a finger or pen touch occurs across the physical boundary region 120 between

sensor segments

108 a and 108 b. However, this conventional solution requires adding

additional hardware conductors

114 a and 114 b to the circuitry of touchscreen 102 and

touch controllers

104 a and 104 b, and the size of

inner boundary regions

110 a and 110 b is permanently fixed by the number of

additional hardwire conductors

114 a and 114 b that are provided during original fabrication of the circuitry for

touch controllers

104 a and 104 b and touchscreen 102. Additionally, the

additional hardwire conductors

114 a and 114 b are subject to analog noise interference which can cause deviations and discontinuity between the touch location values calculated by

touch controllers

104 b and 104 a for

respective boundary regions

110 a and 110 b from the

hardwire conductors

114 a and 114 b.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for sharing digital touch data (e.g., user finger touch data, pen or stylus touch data, etc.) between two or more touch controllers that are coupled to separate respective touch-sensing layer segments of a common touchscreen display device that has an underlying unitary and continuous layered display screen or display panel (e.g., a single unitary and continuous display screen in one embodiment). In one embodiment, the shared digital touch data may correspond to (and be derived from) analog user touch signals received within a defined margin area of each touch-sensing layer segment that lies adjacent to a middle boundary region of the touchscreen display that is defined at the boundary between separate adjacent touch-sensing layer segments of the touchscreen display. In one embodiment, the digital touch data of the margin area may be shared by each touch controller with each other touch controller through an existing electrical interface, such as a Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter (UART) interface, Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C) interface, Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), etc. This sharing of margin area digital touch data enables a programmable integrated circuit of each touch controller to accurately determine or compute the user touch intent for a touch data map of its corresponding touch-sensing layer segment after resolving any existing boundary conflict between digital touch data that corresponds to adjacent touch sensor segments by virtue of the shared digital touch data. Each touch controller may then provide its fully-resolved touch data (e.g., including any finger and pen touch events) to a host programmable integrated circuit (e.g., central processing unit) of an information handling system. In such an embodiment, the host programmable integrated circuit may execute an operating system (OS) to reconstruct and provide the full touch data map for the entire touchscreen display device, e.g., to an application executing on the host programmable integrated circuit.

In one embodiment, an analog front end (AFE) of each given touch controller of a touchscreen display device may first receive analog touch signals from a given touch-sensing layer segment of the touchscreen display device, and an analog to digital converter (ADC) of the given AFE may convert the analog touch signals to digital touch data corresponding to the entire given touch-sensing layer segment. The given AFE may then be configured to select a portion of the digital touch data that corresponds to a defined margin area of the given touch-sensing layer segment, and to share this selected margin area digital touch data with an AFE of each of the other touch controller/s that are coupled to monitor touch-sensing layer segments that have a boundary adjacent the defined margin area of the given touch-sensing layer segment of the touchscreen display device.

Sharing of margin area digital touch data between AFEs of adjacent touch-sensing layer segments enables each touch controller to accurately determine (e.g., compute) the user touch intent after resolving any existing boundary conflict between digital touch data that corresponds to adjacent touch sensor segments. In one embodiment, a multi-touch controller algorithm may be simultaneously implemented by a programmable integrated circuit of each of the separate touch controllers of a touchscreen display device to resolve boundary conflicts and determine user touch intent. Once each of the touch controllers have shared its fully resolved Touch & Pen data with the Host PC, the host Platform CPU & OS can reconstruct the full Touch & Pen Maps back to the Application.

In one embodiment, width of each margin area (i.e., “sharing area” width) of a given touch-sensing layer segment may be dynamically defined or selected in real time based on factors such as user finger size, e.g., to better differentiate and accept an intentional user finger touch event while identifying and rejecting unintentional user touch events (e.g., such as palm touch, arm touch, etc.). In another embodiment, width of a middle boundary region of a given touch-sensing layer segment may be dynamically selected in real time based on current touchscreen display use context, such as current touchscreen display device orientation and/or posture, current touchscreen display device mode (e.g., such as book mode, tablet mode, traditional notebook with internal keyboard mode, notebook with external keyboard mode, etc.), current operating system (OS) application context, current hinge angle, etc.

By sharing digital touch data between different touch controllers while at the same time using a multi-touch controller algorithm to resolve boundary conflicts between the different touch controllers, routing of touch sensor transmit (TX) and receive (RX) lines may advantageously be simplified (and corresponding flexible printed circuit size reduced) as compared to a conventional solution that requires hardwire connections to transfer analog touch signals (TX and RX signals) to a first touch controller from an adjacent sensor segment assigned to a different and second touch controller, i.e., such as illustrated in FIG. 1. Moreover, the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented to share digital touch data between multiple touch controllers, and to resolve boundary conflicts between the multiple touch controllers, in a manner that is agnostic to (or implemented independent of) particular information handling system platform OS, basic input/output system (BIOS) and/or embedded controller (EC) configurations. The disclosed systems and methods may also be implemented to share digital touch data and resolve touch controller conflicts without the need for increased bandwidth and OS processing, e.g., by using USB-human interface device (HID) touch signals. The disclosed systems and methods may also be scaled up for larger touchscreen display devices (e.g., having 17 inch diagonal size or larger screens) using a larger number of touch controllers without increasing system and/or circuit wiring complexity and without increasing signal processing and routing delays.

In one respect, disclosed herein is an information handling system, including: a touch screen display device including at least first and second segments disposed in side-by-side relationship to each other with a boundary defined therebetween; a first analog to digital converter (ADC) coupled to the touch screen display device and receiving first analog signals corresponding to a user touch from the first segment and converting the first analog signals to respective first digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the first segment; and a second ADC coupled to the touch screen display device and receiving second analog signals corresponding to a user touch from the second segment and converting the second analog signals to respective second digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the second segment. The first ADC and the second ADC may be coupled together, with the first ADC providing to the second ADC a portion of the first digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the first segment adjacent to the boundary between the first and second segments, and the second ADC providing to the second ADC a portion of the second digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the second segment adjacent to the boundary between the second and second segments. The information handling system may further include at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the first ADC and at least one programmable integrated circuit coupled to the second ADC, the first ADC providing the first digital data combined with the provided portion of the second digital data to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handing system, and the second ADC providing the second digital data combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to at least one programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system. The information handling system may further include at least one programmable integrated circuit programmed to receive and combine the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data, with the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data, to form total combined digital data.

In another respect, disclosed herein is a method, including: displaying graphics images on a visual display area of a touch screen display device of an information handling system, the touch screen display device including at least first and second segments disposed in side-by-side relationship to each other with a boundary defined therebetween; receiving in a first analog to digital converter (ADC) first analog signals corresponding to a user touch from a first segment of the touchscreen display device, and converting the first analog signals to respective first digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the first segment; receiving in a second ADC second analog signals corresponding to a user touch from a second segment of the touchscreen display device, and converting the second analog signals to respective second digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the second segment, the first and second segments of the touchscreen display device being disposed in side-by-side relationship to each other with a boundary defined therebetween;

providing from the first ADC to the second ADC a portion of the first digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the first segment adjacent to the boundary between the first and second segments, and providing from the second ADC to the first ADC a portion of the second digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the second segment adjacent to the boundary between the first and second segments; in the first ADC combining the first digital data with the provided portion of the second digital data, and in the second ADC combining the second digital data with the provided portion of the first digital data; and combining the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data with the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to form total combined digital data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional technique for implementing dual touch controllers for a common touchscreen.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of dual screen information handling system according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 3 illustrates touch-sensing layer segments according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a host programmable integrated circuit, touch controllers, and the respective analog touch-sensing areas of each of multiple different touch-sensing layer segments according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 5 illustrates a visual representation of digital touch data provided by the internal analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) of multiple analog front ends (AFEs) to respective microcontroller units (MCUs) of multiple touch controllers respectively according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 6 illustrates a representation of digital touch data received from multiple touch controllers and processed in a host programmable integrated circuit according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 7 illustrates methodology according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 8 illustrates examples of different possible user modes of a foldable information handling system according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods

FIG. 9 illustrates a touch-sensing layer according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 10 illustrates multiple separate sensing regions of touch-sensing sensor circuitry according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 11 illustrates methodology according to one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a multiple host touch interface architecture according one exemplary embodiment of the disclosed systems and methods.

FIG. 13 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a single host touch interface architecture.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of an information handling system 200 configured as single-display portable information handling system (e.g., battery-powered laptop or tablet device having a foldable touchscreen 285), although the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented with other types of information handling system configurations such as desktop or tower computer configurations, workstation configurations, notebook computer configurations, etc. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 2, the indicated components of system 200 are contained within a chassis enclosure 201 (e.g., foldable plastic or composite enclosure) that contains internal components of the information handling system 200 therein. Examples of system components illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 2 include touchscreen display device 285 (e.g., including a single 17 inch diagonal or larger display screen 287 layered together with at least two separate side-by-side touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b), host programmable integrated circuit 206, optional discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) 209, system memory 221, storage device 217, and a network interface controller (NIC) 203.

In one embodiment, host programmable integrated circuit 206 may be a central processing unit (CPU) that executes an operating system (OS) 260 (e.g., Microsoft Windows 10 OS, Linux OS, etc.), applications 264, and other software/firmware for system 200. As shown OS 260 may include driver/s 262 such as a human interface device (HID) touchscreen driver. Host 206 may include, for example, an Intel Xeon series processor, an Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processor or another type of programmable integrated circuit.

Still referring to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2, host 206 is shown coupled to system memory 221 via a data channel. System memory 221 may be volatile and/or non-volatile memory and may include, for example, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), and/or other suitable storage mediums. Host 206 is also coupled to platform controller hub (PCH) 250, which facilitates input/output functions for information handling system 200. Local system storage 217 (e.g., one or more media drives such as solid state drives, hard disk drives, optical drives, etc.) are each coupled to PCH 250 to provide non-volatile storage for the information handling system 200. Optional input/output devices 283 (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, etc.) may be coupled to PCH 250 as shown to enable a local system user to interact with components of information handling system 200 including application programs 264 or other software/firmware executing on host 206.

Also shown coupled to PCH 250 is network interface controller (NIC) 203 that may be present to allow host 206 to communicate in a wired and/or wireless manner with other remote information handling system devices 292 across network 291, e.g., which may be the Internet, corporate intranet or other suitable network communication medium. An embedded controller (EC) 261 may also be provided and coupled to non-volatile memory 263 as shown. EC 261 may perform out-of-band processing, including thermal and power management tasks, etc.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, components of touchscreen display device 285 are integrated with other system components of FIG. 2 within the same chassis 201. As shown, optional GPU 209 is coupled in signal communication with host 206 to transfer instructions and data for generating graphics images from host 206 to the GPU 209. Optional GPU 209 may be an NVidia GeForce series processor, an AMD Radeon series processor, or another type of programmable integrated circuit that is configured to perform graphics processing tasks to provide output digital image signals (e.g., as frame buffer data) via video or image data bus or data conductors (e.g., HDMI, DVI, SVGA, VGA, etc.) to display controller 279 of display device 285 which displays digital images on display screen 287 (e.g., LED display, LCD display, or other suitable type of display screen technology). It will be understood that in other embodiments host 206 may alternatively provide such output digital video signals via video data bus or data conductors directly to display controller 279 of display device 285 for display of digital images on display screen 287, including in those cases where optional GPU 209 is not present.

In FIG. 2, touchscreen display device 285 includes a single unitary and continuous layered planar display screen 287 (e.g., including LED display layers, OLED display layers, LCD display layers, or other suitable type of layered display screen technology) that defines a single unitary and continuous planar visual display area as shown in dashed outline in FIG. 2. As further shown in FIG. 2, touchscreen display device 285 also includes one or more separate layers of touch-sensing sensor circuitry (e.g., capacitive layers, resistive layers technology, surface acoustic wave transducers, etc.) that define separate side-by-side respective planar touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b (shown in solid outline) that each overlies a portion of the visual display area of display screen 287 in stacked layered parallel relationship, with the plane of the layered planar display screen 287 disposed parallel to the plane of each of the side-by-side planar touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b. It will be understood that a layer of planar touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b may either physically contact a layer of layered display screen 287, or may overlie (or overlap) the area of layered display screen 287 with other layers disposed therebetween. Moreover, it will be understood that in other embodiments planar touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b may underlie (or be overlapped by) the area of layered display screen 287.

In this embodiment of FIG. 2, the RX₁lines of touch-sensing layer segment 289 a are not connected to the RX₂lines of touch-sensing layer segment 289 b. Instead, each of RX₁lines and RX₂lines terminate (are cut) at middle boundary region 230 and therefore do not extend across the full length of touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 285. The touch-sensing sensor circuitry of each touch-sensing segment dynamically senses in real time the presence and specific location/s (e.g., X, Y coordinate positions, etc.) where a user touches the respective touch-sensing segment with a finger (as used herein the term “finger” includes a thumb), hand, stylus or pen, etc.

For example, in one exemplary embodiment, each of touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b of FIG. 2 includes a plurality of regularly-spaced drive or transmit (TX) lines and a plurality of regularly-spaced sense or receive (RX) lines that are oriented perpendicular to the transmit (TX) lines to form a grid of TX and RX lines. In this grid configuration, the TX and RX lines cross each other in perpendicular spaced planes to form sense nodes 270 at each crossing point. As shown in FIG. 2,

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b (e.g., each configured for supporting a single 7 to 8 inch diagonal size touchscreen display) may be coupled by separate transmit (TX) signal conductors and receive (RX) signal conductors to the respective TX and RX lines of separate touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b, respectively. In such an embodiment, touch controller 282 a supplies a drive signal across a respective signal conductor TX₁to each of the TX₁lines of touch-sensing layer segment 289 a and touch controller 282 b supplies a drive signal across a respective signal conductor TX₂to each of the TX₂lines of touch-sensing layer segment 289 b.

Still referring to FIG. 2, when a human user touches a particular location on either touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a or 289 b, a touch event may be detected by the corresponding

respective touch controller

282 a or 282 b at one or more of the sense nodes of the

touch segment layer

289 a or 289 b by detecting a change in the signal charge caused by a change in the capacitance induced across one or more of its sense nodes 270 at that current particular touched location (e.g., at X, Y coordinate position/s corresponding to the current particular touched location). These signal charges are injected into the respective RX₁and RX₂lines of touch segment layers 289 a and 289 b. In such an embodiment, touch controller 282 a receives a charge signal (across a respective electrical conductor RX₁) as an analog sense signal in its analog front end (AFE) 283 a from each of the RX₁lines of touch-sensing layer segment 289 a, and touch controller 282 b receives a charge signal (across a respective electrical conductor RX₂) as an analog sense signal in its AFE 283 b from each of the RX₂lines of touch-sensing layer segment 289 b.

An internal analog to digital converter (ADC) 293 a of the AFE 283 a of touch controller 282 a and an internal ADC 293 b of the AFE 283 b of touch controller 282 b of FIG. 2 converts the received analog sense signals of the respective RX₁lines and RX₂lines to digital touch data (e.g., including information identifying the X, Y coordinate position/s corresponding to a current particular touched location), and a microcontroller (MCU) of the

respective touch controller

282 a or 282 b processes this digital touch data to produce a heat map that includes any identified touch events and their sensed current user touch locations (e.g., that identifies occurrence of the current particular touch event and that identifies the sensed X, Y coordinate position/s corresponding to the touched location of the current particular touch event). Each of

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b forwards this information (i.e., identified touch events and their sensed current user touch locations) as digital HID touch protocol signals (e.g., Microsoft human interface device (HID) events) to a HID touchscreen driver 262 of OS 260 on host programmable integrated circuit 206, e.g., via a

data bus

277 a or 277 b such as serial peripheral interface (SPI). In an alternative embodiment, each of

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b may forward this information (i.e., identified touch events and their sensed current user touch locations) as digital Microsoft (MSFT) Heatmap Touch Protocol data to a MSFT heatmap driver of OS 260 on host programmable integrated circuit 206. This is also an alternative data transfer technique for all other embodiments herein that are described as using digital HID touch protocol signals transmitted to the host programmable integrated circuit 206.

As further described and illustrated herein, the

respective AFEs

283 a and 283 b of

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b may also exchange at least a portion of their digital touch data between each other that corresponds to a defined margin area of each respective touch-sensing layer segment that lies adjacent to a middle boundary region 230 of the touchscreen display that is defined between adjacent TX₁and TX₂lines of the respective separate adjacent touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b.

Further information on configuration and operation of touchscreen display technology may be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,216,304; 10,276,081; 10,656,761; and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/833,634 filed Mar. 29, 2020; each of which the foregoing being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

FIG. 3 illustrates touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a or 289 b according to one exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, touch-sensing layer segment 289 a in includes a grid of 84 horizontal RX₁lines (RX₁lines 0-83) and 32 vertical TX₁lines (TX₁lines 0-31) that are coupled by respective signal conductors RX₁and TX₁to AFE 283 a of first touch controller 282 a (TC1). As further shown, touch-sensing layer segment 289 b includes a grid of 84 horizontal RX₂lines (RX₂lines 0-83) and 30 vertical TX₂lines (TX₂lines 32-62) that are coupled by respective signal conductors RX₂and TX₂to AFE 283 b of second touch controller 282 b (TC2).

FIG. 4 illustrates a simplified block diagram of one embodiment of host programmable integrated circuit 206,

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b, and the respective analog touch-

sensing areas

489 a and 489 b of each of touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a or 289 b. FIG. 7 illustrates a methodology 700 as it may be performed according to one exemplary embodiment.

In particular, FIG. 4 depicts the analog touch-

sensing areas

489 a and 489 b of touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a or 289 b as they are sensed in step 702 of methodology 700 by

respective AFE

283 a and 283 b of

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b. FIG. 4 also shows a defined analog-sensed margin area 402 a of the analog touch-sensing area 489 a of touch-sensing layer segment 289 a and a defined analog-sensed margin area 402 b of the analog touch-sensing area 489 b of touch sensing layer segment 289 b. Each of analog-sensed

margin areas

402 a and 402 b that are located adjacent and to either side of middle boundary region 230 that exists between the rightmost TX₁line 31 of touch-sensing layer segment 289 a and the leftmost TX₂line 32 of touch-sensing layer segment 289 b.

Still referring to FIG. 4, the width of middle boundary region 230 between touch-

sensing layer segments

289 a and 289 b is the distance between TX₁line 31 (that is coupled to first touch controller 282 a) and TX₂line 32 (that is coupled to second touch controller 282 b). It will be understood that the respective widths of

margin areas

402 a and 402 b may be defined (e.g., selected) by real time commands to

AFEs

283 a and 283 b from

respective MCU

281 a and 281 b to fit the needs of a given configuration of information handling system 200 as shown in step 701 of FIG. 7. Just as an example, width of margin area 402 a may be defined to include TX₁lines 30 and 31, and width of margin area 402 a may be defined to include TX₂lines 32 and 33. However,

margin areas

402 a and 402 b may be defined to have any other greater or lesser width by selecting a different number of TX₁lines and TX₂lines for including in each of the

margin areas

402 a and 402 b.

As described further herein in relation to FIG. 8, in one optional embodiment the respective widths of each of

margin areas

402 a and 402 b may be dynamically changed (e.g., in real time by command from

respective MCUs

281 a and 281 b) to fit the changing needs of different configurations or use-cases of information handling system 200, e.g., as detected and reported to MCUs 281 a and 281 b by host programmable integrated circuit 206 and/or EC 261. In one embodiment, the respective widths (i.e., number of TX lines) of

margin areas

402 a and 402 b may be defined to be the same as each other at any given time, although it is alternatively possible that widths of

margin areas

402 a and 402 b may be defined to be different from each other at the same time by defining a number of TX₁lines for including in margin area 402 a that is different from the number of TX₂lines defined for including in margin area 402 b.

Returning to FIG. 4, first AFE 283 a converts sensed analog signals from first analog touch-sensing area 489 a to corresponding first digital touch data, and second AFE 283 b converts sensed analog signals from second analog touch-sensing area 489 b to corresponding second digital touch data. This corresponds to step 704 of methodology 700. As further shown in FIG. 4, first AFE 283 a converts sensed analog signals of margin area 402 a to first digital touch data of margin area 402 a and provides it to second AFE 283 b via an existing electrical interface (e.g., UART, I²C, SPI, etc.) in step 705 of methodology 700. At the same time, second AFE 283 b converts sensed analog signals of margin area 402 b to second digital touch data of margin area 402 b and provides it to first AFE 283 a via an existing electrical interface (e.g., UART, I²C, SPI, etc.) in step 705 of methodology 700.

FIG. 5 illustrates a visual representation of digital touch data provided by the internal ADCs of

AFEs

283 a and 283 b to MCUs of

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b, respectively. As shown, AFE 283 a combines digital touch data of first touch sensing area 489 a with digital touch data 403 b of second margin area 402 b that is received from AFE 283 b, and provides this combined digital touch data 451 a as a first heat map to MCU 281 a of touch controller 282 a. At the same time, AFE 283 b combines digital touch data of second touch sensing area 489 b with digital touch data 403 a of first margin area 402 a that is received from AFE 283 a, and provides this combined digital touch data 451 b as a second heat map to MCU 281 b of touch controller 282 b. This operation is described in step 706 of methodology 700.

FIG. 6 illustrates a visual representation of digital touch data received from

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b and processed in host programmable integrated circuit 206. As shown, an HID touchscreen driver in host programmable integrated circuit 206 has combined the first combined digital touch data 451 a and the second combined digital touch data 451 b of FIG. 5 that is received from

respective touch controllers

282 a and 282 b into a single continuous and unitary total touch map 602 for touchscreen display device 285, e.g., in step 708 of methodology 700. Since the first combined digital touch data 451 a includes digital touch data of second margin area 402 b from second analog touch-sensing area 489 b that corresponds to and aligns with a portion of the digital touch data of second touch sensing area 489 b, and the second combined digital touch data 451 b includes digital data of first margin area 402 a from first analog touch-sensing area 489 a that corresponds to and aligns with a portion of the digital touch data of first touch sensing area 489 a, any boundary conflicts that would otherwise exist between digital touch data corresponding to the separate first and second analog touch-

sensing areas

489 a and 489 b is already resolved in first and second combined

digital touch data

451 a and 451 b (by

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b, respectively) before first and second combined

digital touch data

451 a and 451 b are combined into the total touch map 602 by host programmable integrated circuit 206. Therefore, first combined digital touch data 451 a is automatically aligned with second combined digital touch data 451 b when combined

digital touch data

451 a and 451 b are combined into total touch map 602 by host programmable integrated circuit 206, and without any boundary resolution action taken by OS 260 on by host programmable integrated circuit 206.

FIG. 8 is a table illustrating some examples of different designated widths of each of

margin sharing areas

402 a and 402 b (listed in “Sharing Area” row of the table of FIG. 8) for different possible user modes of a foldable information handling system 200 (e.g., a portable battery-powered foldable information handling system with a unitary continuous display screen that is foldable about a hinged center line 850 of the display screen as shown FIG. 8). In FIG. 8, different user modes that provide different user experiences are illustrated in the “Picture” row of the table of FIG. 8. In the table of FIG. 8, the “Remark” row describes example factors that may be considered when assigning the different widths of each of

margin sharing areas

402 a and 402 b. In one embodiment, the width of

margin sharing areas

402 a and 402 b may be dynamically selected and defined in real time (e.g., by

MCUs

281 a and 281 b) according to the determined current user mode of information handling system 200 (e.g., as detected and reported to MCUs 281 a and 281 b by host programmable integrated circuit 206 and/or EC 261) as shown by repeating from step 708 to step 701 of FIG. 7. Other factors which may be considered when assigning the different widths of each of

margin sharing areas

402 a and 402 b include, but are not limited to, current operating system (OS) application context, current hinge or fold angle, etc.

As described above, the predefined widths of

margin sharing areas

402 a and 402 b may be dynamically selected and varied based on sensed user mode, e.g., as sensed by host programmable integrated circuit 206 and/or EC 261. In such an embodiment, host programmable integrated circuit 206 and/or EC 261 may optionally provide control signals to touch

controllers

282 a and 282 b to cause

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b to implement the different widths of

margin sharing areas

402 a and 402 b, e.g., according to a lookup table storing a relationship between user mode and sharing area width such as shown in “User Mode” and “Sharing Area” rows of the table of FIG. 8. Such a lookup table may be stored, for example, in non-volatile memory 263 and/or storage 217. As an example, to implement the example margin sharing area widths for the embodiment of FIG. 8, the following signals may be received and processed by

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b:

1) For 5 Millimeter Margin Sharing Area of Book Mode:

- TC1 analog-sensed margin area 402 a (X-axis, Y-axis)=(TX₁lines 30&31, RX₁lines 0-83)
- TC2 analog-sensed margin area 402 b (X-axis, Y-axis)=(TX₂lines 32&33, RX₂lines 0-83).

2) For 10 Millimeter Margin Sharing Area of Tablet Mode:

- TC1 analog-sensed margin area 402 a (X-axis, Y-axis)=(TX₁lines 28-31, RX₁lines 0-83)
- TC2 analog-sensed margin area 402 b (X-axis, Y-axis)=(TX₂lines 32-35, RX₂lines 0-83).

The single continuous and unitary total touch map 602 for touchscreen display device 285 may then be analyzed by OS 260 (e.g., using HID touchscreen driver 262) to interpret user finger and pen (or stylus) touch gestures that are input to touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 285. These interpreted user gestures may be provided (e.g., by HID touchscreen driver 262) to other software and/or firmware executing on host programmable integrated circuit 206 (e.g., such as application/s 264 and/or integrated graphics of host 206) or on other programmable integrated circuits (e.g., such as GPU 209) of information handling system 200. Other software and/or firmware receiving these interpreted user gestures may respond by taking one or more display actions according to the user gestures (e.g., such as changing or moving graphic images displayed on touchscreen display device 285 by moving a displayed cursor, moving or resizing a displayed application window, selecting a displayed button or web link, etc.), taking one or more application actions according to the user gestures (e.g., such as opening or closing a given application 264, performing an application action designated by the interpreted user gesture, accepting entry of data by the interpreted user gesture, etc.), etc.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate an alternative embodiment of a touchscreen display device 985 that includes a layered display screen that defines a single continuous visual display area similar to that described in relation to the embodiment of FIG. 2. In this embodiment, touchscreen display device 985 includes a separate layer of touch-sensing sensor circuitry (e.g., capacitive layers, resistive layers technology, surface acoustic wave transducers, etc.) that defines a touch-sensing layer that overlies the visual display area of display screen 287 as shown in FIG. 9. In this embodiment, touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 985 includes a plurality of regularly-spaced drive or transmit (TX) lines and a plurality of regularly-spaced sense or receive (RX) lines that are oriented perpendicular to the transmit (TX) lines to form a grid of TX and RX lines. In this grid configuration, the TX lines and RX lines cross each other in perpendicular spaced planes to form sense nodes at each crossing point.

As described further below, the TX lines and RX lines of touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 985 are configured differently than are the TX lines and RX lines of the touch-sensing circuitry embodiment of touchscreen display device 285 of FIG. 2, but may be operatively coupled to

multiple touch controllers

282 a and 282 b of FIG. 2 as described below. In one embodiment, touchscreen display device 985 may have a 17 inch (or larger) diagonal size touchscreen display that is coupled to

multiple touch controllers

282 a and 282 b (e.g., touch controllers each configured for supporting a single 7 to 8 inch diagonal size touchscreen display). In this embodiment, touch-sensing circuitry of touchscreen display device 985 forms a single continuous touch sensor, which is a standard design sensor that may accommodate either a single or multiple touch controller architecture, thus reducing supply chain cost and manufacturing complexity. Further, the RX lines of the touch sensor circuitry may be evenly distributed on both sides of the sensor enabling narrowest borders to be provided in one embodiment.

Still referring to FIG. 9, the signal conductors of each of the RX lines extends across the full length of touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 985, extending from the left edge to the right edge of touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 985 without any discontinuity (i.e., gap or cut) in the RX lines, TX lines, or the quadrants of touch-sensing sensor circuitry controlled by the

different touch controllers

282 a and 282 b as shown in FIG. 10). In the embodiment of FIG. 9, touch controller 282 a (TC1) may be coupled by respective TX₁signal conductors to a first (leftmost) group of TX₁lines, and coupled by respective RX₁signal conductors to a first (uppermost) group of RX₁lines. Similarly, touch controller 282 b (TC2) may be separately coupled by respective TX₂signal conductors to a second (rightmost) group of TX₂lines, and by respective RX₂signal conductors to a second (lowermost) group of RX₂lines. Thus, a boundary area 930 separates the first (uppermost) group of RX₁lines coupled to touch controller 282 a from the second (lowermost) group of RX₂lines coupled to touch controller 282 b.

The embodiment of FIGS. 9-11 may be implemented to provide a One Transmit (TX)—Each Receive (RX) touch controller architecture which leverages the fact that most touch controllers are designed for use with a rectangular-shaped Aspect Ratio in which the touch controller has more RX than TX lines. It will be understood that the architecture and algorithm of FIGS. 9-11 are scalable to two or more touch controllers and to touchscreen display sizes larger than 17 inch diagonal size.

FIG. 10 illustrates four separate sensing regions (or zones) 1002, 1004, 1006 and 1008 of touch-sensing sensor circuitry of FIG. 9 that may be defined when coupled to touch

controllers

282 a and 282 b of FIG. 2. As shown, touch controller 282 a (TC1) supplies a drive signal to each of TX₁lines of

quadrants

1002 and 1004, and touch controller 282 b (TC2) supplies a drive signal to each of TX₂lines of

quadrants

1006 and 1008. At the same time, touch controller 282 a (TC1) receives analog sense signals from each of RX₁lines of

quadrants

1002 and 1006, and touch controller 282 b (TC2) receives analog sense signals from each of RX₂lines of

quadrants

1004 and 1008.

FIG. 11 illustrates one exemplary embodiment of touch-sensing scanning methodology 1100 that may be implemented in one exemplary embodiment by the combination of

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b with the touchscreen display embodiment of FIGS. 9 and 10. As shown, methodology 1100 begins in step 1102, where scanning is started for a new frame. In step 1104, transmit and receive modes of touch controller 282 a (TC1) are turned on, receive mode of touch controller 282 b (TC2) is turned on, and a TX₁line number counter value “n” is set to 0 for the first TX₁line.

Next, in step 1106, touch controller 282 a (TC1) provides a drive signal to the current “n” TX₁line number in quadrants 1002 and 1004 (e.g., which is TX₁line=0 for the first iteration). In step 1108, AFE 283 a of touch controller 282 a (TC1) and AFE 283 b of touch controller 282 b (TC2) sequentially receive analog sense signals (in RX₁lines of quadrant 1002 and RX₂lines of quadrant 1004) that correspond to the transmitted drive signal of step 1106, and convert these received values to digital touch data provided to MCU 282 a and MCU 282 b, respectively.

Next, in step 1110, it is determined whether the current value of “n” corresponds to the maximum “n” value (e.g., “Nmax”) of the last TX₁line (e.g., maximum “n” value of TX₁₌₃₁in one embodiment). If not, then methodology 1100 proceeds to step 1111 and increments the current counter value of “n” by 1 (e.g., new current “n” value=previous “n” value+1) and returns to step 1106 and repeats as shown. When it is determined in step 1110 that the current “n” value equals the maximum “n” value (e.g., maximum “n” value=Nmax=31 in one embodiment), then methodology 1100 proceeds to step 1112 where MCU 281 a of touch controller 282 a (TC1) creates a heat map for quadrant 1002 (zone 1) and MCU 281 b of touch controller 282 b (TC2) creates a heat map for quadrant 1004 (zone 2).

Methodology

1100 then proceeds to step 1114 where transmit and receive modes of touch controller 282 b (TC2) are turned on, receive mode of touch controller 282 a (TC1) is turned on, and a TX₂line number counter value “m” is set to 0 for the first TX₂line. Next, in step 1116, touch controller 282 b (TC2) provides a drive signal to the current “m” TX₂line number in quadrants 1006 and 1008 (e.g., which is TX₂line=0 for the first iteration). In step 1118, AFE 283 a of touch controller 282 a (TC1) and AFE 283 b of touch controller 282 b (TC2) sequentially receive analog sense signals (in RX₁lines of quadrant 1006 and RX₂lines of quadrant 1008) that correspond to the transmitted drive signal of step 1116, and convert these received values to digital touch data provided to MCU 281 a and MCU 281 b, respectively.

Next, in step 1120, it is determined whether the current value of “m” corresponds to the maximum “m” value (e.g., “Mmax”) of the last TX₂line (e.g., maximum “m” value of TX₁=30 in one embodiment). If not, then methodology 1100 proceeds to step 1121 and increments the current counter value of “m” by 1 (e.g., new current “m” value=previous “m” value+1) and returns to step 1116 and repeats as shown. When it is determined in step 1120 that the current “m” value equals the maximum “m” value (e.g., maximum “m” value=Mmax=30 in one embodiment), then methodology 1100 proceeds to step 1122 where MCU 281 a of touch controller 282 a (TC1) creates a heat map for quadrant 1006 (zone 3) and MCU 281 b of touch controller 282 b (TC2) creates a heat map for quadrant 1008 (zone 4).

Methodology

1100 of FIG. 11 then proceeds to step 1124 where touch controller 282 a (TC1) combines heat map data for

quadrants

1002 and 1006 to create a combined heat map for touch controller 282 a (TC1), and provides this combined data as digital HID touch protocol data to host programmable integrated circuit 206. In step 1126, touch controller 282 b (TC2) combines heat map data for

quadrants

1004 and 1008 to create a combined heat map for touch controller 282 b (TC2), and provides this combined data as digital HID touch protocol data to host programmable integrated circuit 206. In step 1128, host programmable integrated circuit 206 (e.g., using HID touchscreen driver 262) then combines the digital HID touch protocol data provided from touch controller 282 a (TC1) and touch controller 282 b (TC2) to create a single continuous and unitary total touch map for touchscreen display device 985, with any boundary conflicts between adjacent touch sensor segments already being resolved by the digital touch data shared between touch controller 282 a (TC1) and touch controller 282 b (TC2), and without any boundary resolution action taken by OS 260 on by host programmable integrated circuit 206. In one embodiment, step 1126 may be performed using the methodology of

steps

705, 706 and 708 of FIG. 7.

Similar to previously described in relation to methodology 700 of FIG. 7, the single continuous and unitary total touch map for touchscreen display device 985 may then be analyzed by OS 260 (e.g., using HID touchscreen driver 262) to interpret user finger and pen (or stylus) touch gestures that are input to touch-sensing sensor circuitry of touchscreen display device 985. These interpreted user gestures may be provided (e.g., by HID touchscreen driver 262) to other software and/or firmware executing on host programmable integrated circuit 206 (e.g., such as application/s 264 and/or integrated graphics of host 206) or on other programmable integrated circuits (e.g., such as GPU 209) of information handling system 200. Other software and/or firmware receiving these interpreted user gestures may respond by taking one or more display actions according to the user gestures (e.g., such as changing or moving graphic images displayed on touchscreen display device 985 by moving a displayed cursor, moving or resizing a displayed application window, selecting a displayed button or web link, etc.), taking one or more application actions according to the user gestures (e.g., such as opening or closing a given application 264, performing an application action designated by the interpreted user gesture, accepting entry of data by the interpreted user gesture, etc.), etc.

FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a multiple (e.g., dual) host touch interface architecture embodiment that includes host programmable integrated circuit 206,

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b, and the

quadrants

1002, 1004, 1006 and 1008 of the single unitary analog touch-sensing area, such as employed in the methodology of FIG. 11. In this embodiment, AFE digital data is shared between

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b, e.g., to enhance touch computation accuracy in the overlap/margin areas between the quadrants (shown in crosshatching in FIG. 12). In this regard, AFE 283 a combines digital touch data of

quadrants

1002 and 1006 with digital touch data of the crosshatched margin area 1090 of

quadrants

1004 and 1008 that is received from AFE 283 b, and provides this combined digital touch data as a first heat map to MCU 281 a of touch controller 282 a. At the same time, AFE 283 b combines digital touch data of

quadrants

1004 and 1008 with digital touch data of the crosshatched margin area 1092 of

quadrants

1002 and 1006 that is received from AFE 283 a, and provides this combined digital touch data as a second heat map to MCU 281 b of touch controller 282 b.

FIG. 13 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an alternative single host touch interface architecture embodiment that includes host programmable integrated circuit 206,

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b, and the

quadrants

1002, 1004, 1006 and 1008 of the single unitary analog touch-sensing area. In this embodiment, AFE digital data is again shared between

touch controllers

282 a and 282 b to enhance touch computation accuracy in the overlap/margin areas between the quadrants (shown in crosshatching in FIG. 13) in the same manner as described for the embodiment of FIG. 12. However, HID touch point data is also shared from MCU 281 b of touch controller 282 b to MCU 281 a of touch controller 282 a, and MCU 281 b of touch controller 282 b stitches together the HID touchpoint data into a single combined touch controller touch map (that includes touch data of both

touch controllers MCU

281 a and 281 b), which is then provided as digital HID touch data by a single data path to OS 260 and its drivers 262 and applications 264 for use as previously described.

Although FIGS. 2-13 illustrate certain embodiments employing two touch controllers that are coupled to two separate respective touch-sensing layer segments of a common touchscreen display device, it will be understood the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented in other embodiments using three or more touch controllers coupled (e.g., and cascaded) to three or more respective touch-sensing layer segments of a common touchscreen display device.

It will be understood that one or more of the tasks, functions, or methodologies described herein (e.g., including those described herein for

components

203, 206, 209, 250, 261, 279, 281 a, 281 b, 282 a, 282 b, etc.) may be implemented by circuitry and/or by a computer program of instructions (e.g., computer readable code such as firmware code or software code) embodied in a non-transitory tangible computer readable medium (e.g., optical disk, magnetic disk, non-volatile memory device, etc.), in which the computer program includes instructions that are configured when executed on a processing device in the form of a programmable integrated circuit (e.g., processor such as CPU, controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, ASIC, etc. or programmable logic device “PLD” such as FPGA, complex programmable logic device “CPLD”, etc.) to perform one or more steps of the methodologies disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a group of such processing devices may be selected from the group consisting of CPU, controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, FPGA, CPLD and ASIC. The computer program of instructions may include an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions in an processing system or component thereof. The executable instructions may include a plurality of code segments operable to instruct components of an processing system to perform the methodologies disclosed herein.

It will also be understood that one or more steps of the present methodologies may be employed in one or more code segments of the computer program. For example, a code segment executed by the information handling system may include one or more steps of the disclosed methodologies. It will be understood that a processing device may be configured to execute or otherwise be programmed with software, firmware, logic, and/or other program instructions stored in one or more non-transitory tangible computer-readable mediums (e.g., data storage devices, flash memories, random update memories, read only memories, programmable memory devices, reprogrammable storage devices, hard drives, floppy disks, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and/or any other tangible data storage mediums) to perform the operations, tasks, functions, or actions described herein for the disclosed embodiments.

For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, calculate, determine, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, communicate, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer (e.g., desktop or laptop), tablet computer, mobile device (e.g., personal digital assistant (PDA) or smart phone), server (e.g., blade server or rack server), a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, touchscreen and/or a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.

While the invention may be adaptable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example and described herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the different aspects of the disclosed systems and methods may be utilized in various combinations and/or independently. Thus the invention is not limited to only those combinations shown herein, but rather may include other combinations.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system, comprising:

a touch screen display device comprising at least first and second segments disposed in side-by-side relationship to each other with a boundary defined therebetween;

a first analog to digital converter (ADC) coupled to the touch screen display device and receiving first analog signals corresponding to a user touch from the first segment and converting the first analog signals to respective first digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the first segment; and

a second ADC coupled to the touch screen display device and receiving second analog signals corresponding to a user touch from the second segment and converting the second analog signals to respective second digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the second segment;

where the first ADC and second ADC are coupled together, the first ADC providing to the second ADC a portion of the first digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the first segment adjacent to the boundary between the first and second segments, and the second ADC providing to the first ADC a portion of the second digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the second segment adjacent to the boundary between the second and second segments;

where the information handling system further comprises at least one first programmable integrated circuit coupled to the first ADC and at least one second programmable integrated circuit coupled to the second ADC, the first ADC providing the first digital data combined with the provided portion of the second digital data to the at least one first programmable integrated circuit of the information handing system, and the second ADC providing the second digital data combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to the at least one second programmable integrated circuit of the information handling system; and

where the information handling system further comprises at least one third programmable integrated circuit programmed to receive the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data and to receive the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data, and to form total combined digital data by combining the received first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data with the received second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, where the defined margin area of the first segment has a first width and the defined margin area of the second segment has a second width; and where the at least one third programmable integrated circuit is programmed to dynamically change the first width and the second width in real time.

3. The information handling system of claim 1, where the defined margin area of the first segment has a first width and the defined margin area of the second segment has a second width; and where the at least one third programmable integrated circuit is programmed to monitor a current user mode of the information handling system, and to dynamically change the first width and the second width in real time based on a change in the detected current user mode of the information handling system.

4. The information handling system of claim 1, where:

the at least one first programmable integrated circuit is a first microcontroller coupled to the first ADC and the at least one second programmable integrated circuit is a second microcontroller coupled to the second ADC, the first ADC providing the first digital data combined with the provided portion of the second digital data to the first microcontroller, and the second ADC providing the second digital data combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to the second microcontroller;

where the at least one third programmable integrated circuit is a host programmable integrated circuit coupled to the first microcontroller and the second microcontroller, the host programmable integrated circuit receiving from the first microcontroller the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data, and the host programmable integrated circuit receiving from the second microcontroller the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data; and

where the host programmable integrated circuit is programmed to analyze the total combined digital data to interpret one or more user touch gestures; and to take one or more display or application actions according to the interpretation of the user gestures.

5. The information handling system of claim 4, the first microcontroller providing the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data to the host programmable integrated circuit as first combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a first user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location; the second microcontroller providing the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to the host programmable integrated circuit as second combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a second user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location; and where the host programmable integrated circuit is programmed to execute a human interface device (HID) touchscreen driver to analyze the total combined digital data to interpret one or more user touch gestures, and to take one or more display or application actions according to the interpretation of the user gestures.

6. The information handling system of claim 1, where the at least one first programmable integrated circuit is a first microcontroller coupled to the first ADC and the at least one second programmable integrated circuit is a second microcontroller coupled to the second ADC, the first ADC providing the first digital data combined with the provided portion of the second digital data to the first microcontroller, the second ADC providing the second digital data combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to the second microcontroller, and the second microcontroller providing to the first microcontroller the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data; where the at least one third programmable integrated circuit is a host programmable integrated circuit coupled to the first microcontroller, the host programmable integrated circuit receiving the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data from the first microcontroller, and the host programmable integrated circuit receiving the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data from the first microcontroller.

7. The information handling system of claim 6, the first microcontroller providing the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data to the host programmable integrated circuit as first combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a first user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location; and the first microcontroller providing the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to the host programmable integrated circuit as second combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a second user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location.

8. The information handling system of claim 1, where the touch screen display device comprises a unitary layered planar display screen defining a continuous and unitary planar visual display area; and where the first and second segments are disposed in adjacent side-by-side relationship to each other, a plane of each of the first and second segments being disposed in stacked layered parallel relationship with a plane of a portion of the layered planar display screen; and where the touch screen is foldable about a hinged center line that is defined at a boundary between the first and second segments.

9. The information handling system of claim 1, where the information handling system further comprises a first touch controller comprising the first ADC, and a second touch controller comprising the second ADC; where the first segment comprises a first portion of receive lines of the touch screen display device, the first portion of receive lines forming sense nodes with transmit lines of the first touch controller and the first ADC receiving the first analog signals from the first portion of receive lines; and where the second segment comprises a second portion of receive lines of the touch screen display device that are separate from the first portion of receive lines, the second portion of receive lines forming sense nodes with transmit lines of the second touch controller.

10. The information handling system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first touch controller that comprises the first ADC, and a second touch controller that comprises the second ADC;

where the first segment comprises a first group of receive lines of the touch screen display device that form sense nodes with both a first group of transmit lines of the first touch controller and a first group of transmit lines of the second touch controller, the first ADC receiving the first analog signals from the first group of receive lines of the touch screen display device;

where the second segment comprises a second group of receive lines of the touch screen display device that form sense nodes with both a second group of transmit lines of the first touch controller and a second group of transmit lines of the second touch controller, the second ADC receiving the second analog signals from the second group of receive lines of the touch screen display device; and

where the first group of receive lines of the touch screen display device are different from the second group of receive lines of the touch screen display device, the first group of transmit lines of the first touch controller are different from the second group of transmit lines of the first touch controller, and the first group of transmit lines of the second touch controller are different from the second group of transmit lines of the second touch controller.

11. The information handling system of claim 1, where the at least one first programmable integrated circuit is a first microcontroller, the at least one second programmable circuit is a second microcontroller, and the at least one third programmable integrated circuit is a central processing unit (CPU).

12. A method, comprising:

displaying graphics images on a visual display area of a touch screen display device of an information handling system, the touch screen display device comprising at least first and second segments disposed in side-by-side relationship to each other with a boundary defined therebetween;

receiving in a first analog to digital converter (ADC) first analog signals corresponding to a user touch from a first segment of the touchscreen display device, and converting the first analog signals to respective first digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the first segment;

receiving in a second ADC second analog signals corresponding to a user touch from a second segment of the touchscreen display device, and converting the second analog signals to respective second digital data that includes information identifying a current particular touched location on the second segment, the first and second segments of the touchscreen display device being disposed in side-by-side relationship to each other with a boundary defined therebetween;

providing from the first ADC to the second ADC a portion of the first digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the first segment adjacent to the boundary between the first and second segments, and providing from the second ADC to the first ADC a portion of the second digital data corresponding to a defined margin area of the second segment adjacent to the boundary between the first and second segments;

in the first ADC combining the first digital data with the provided portion of the second digital data, and in the second ADC combining the second digital data with the provided portion of the first digital data; and

combining the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data with the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data to form total combined digital data.

13. The method of claim 12, where the defined margin area of the first segment has a first width and the defined margin area of the second segment has a second width; and where the method further comprises dynamically changing the first width and the second width in real time.

14. The method of claim 12, where the defined margin area of the first segment has a first width and the defined margin area of the second segment has a second width; and where the method further comprises monitoring a current user mode of the information handling system, and dynamically changing the first width and the second width in real time based on a change in the detected current user mode of the information handling system.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising analyzing the total combined digital data to interpret one or more user touch gestures; and taking one or more display or application actions according to the interpretation of the user gestures.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data as first combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a first user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location; providing the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data as second combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a second user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location; and using a human interface device (HID) touchscreen driver to analyze the total combined digital data to interpret the one or more user touch gestures.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing the first digital data combined with the provided portion of the second digital data from the first ADC to a first microcontroller; providing the second digital data combined with the provided portion of the first digital data from the second ADC to a second microcontroller; providing from the second microcontroller to the first microcontroller the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data; receiving in a host programmable integrated circuit from the first microcontroller the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data; and receiving in the host programmable integrated circuit from the first microcontroller the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data.

18. The method of claim 17, providing the first digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the second digital data from the first microcontroller to the host programmable integrated circuit as first combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a first user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location; and providing the second digital data that is combined with the provided portion of the first digital data from the first microcontroller to the host programmable integrated circuit as second combined digital touch data that identifies the occurrence of a second user touch event and its corresponding sensed touch location.

19. The method of claim 12, where the touch screen display device comprises a unitary layered planar display screen defining a continuous and unitary planar visual display area; and where the first and second segments are disposed in adjacent side-by-side relationship to each other, a plane of each of the first and second segments being disposed in stacked layered parallel relationship with a plane of a portion of the layered planar display screen; and where the touch screen is foldable about a hinged center line that is defined at a boundary between the first and second segments.

20. The method of claim 12, where the information handling system further comprises a first touch controller comprising the first ADC, and a second touch controller comprising the second ADC; where the first segment comprises a first portion of receive lines of the touch screen display device, the first portion of receive lines forming sense nodes with transmit lines of the first touch controller and the first ADC receiving the first analog signals from the first portion of receive lines; and where the second segment comprises a second portion of receive lines of the touch screen display device that are separate from the first portion of receive lines, the second portion of receive lines forming sense nodes with transmit lines of the second touch controller.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising: